There are many ways to provide armor protection for ground systems, for example, commercial and military vehicles and structures. Various examples of armoring ground systems include, but are not limited to, installing an armor add-on kit to a preexisting body or building the body out of armor materials. Both of these methodologies have some advantages but many disadvantages.
An armor add-on kit is usually used when a vehicle is designed for applications that do not require protecting its occupants against direct or indirect ballistic fire and blast threats. With an add-on kit, the body of the vehicle must be reinforced so that the armor components can be attached to the vehicle structure to protect the occupants in a heightened threat environment. Overall, an add-on kit results in a heavier and more expensive vehicle system because the preexisting body is parasitic in both cost and weight. The preexisting body doesn't aid in defeating a threat and in some cases, can degrade armor performance. Therefore, the preexisting body only adds unwanted cost and weight. Other disadvantages include a reduction in the life cycle of the preexisting body and chassis, reduced fuel efficiency, long installation times and little modularity. Modularity relates to a capability of removing and/or replacing armor components.
Alternatively, a vehicle body can be replaced with, or redesigned as, a new body that is originally made with armor materials (i.e. 5/16″ steel), so that the new body provides a desired and permanent complete armor system. Such a new body offers significant weight and cost advantages over vehicles using an add-on armor kit due to the parasitic cost and weight penalty of the preexisting base vehicle body. However, disadvantages include a reduction in life cycle for the chassis, reduced fuel efficiency and the inability to remove the armor. Further, the overall cost of the vehicle will be significantly higher due to the permanently armored body. In addition, the chassis will carry the heavier armor body for the entire life of the vehicle unless the entire body is replaced. Also, it is difficult, time consuming and costly to upgrade the armor of vehicles of this type, as new technology becomes available since the vehicle bodies are fabricated with a permanent armor system. In order to provide upgraded armor, the entire vehicle body or large components thereof would have to be removed and then replaced with a body having an upgraded armor system.
Thus, there is a need for an armoring system that does not have the disadvantages of the known systems discussed above.